S1E16--Season Finale-Dream Travel
by TekeoMiona
Summary: I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME THINK OF A DAMN SUMMARY FOR THIS AND I'VE BEEN SITTING HERE FOR THREE HOURS TRYING, SO JUST READ IT. CONTAINS TYLER BACKGROUND, THE LAB IN AN OBSCURE WAY, AND SOME BOOMS. ALSO, CHARACTER DEATH. DON'T KILL ME. *CHAPTER 2 UP*
1. Chapter 1

**I'M BACK! Howdy folks. Sorry for the long wait, college is seriously harder when you DON'T want to be there. Those teachers seriously bug me for forcing me to going. Ah well. Few more weeks to go then I'm done for the foreseeable future; until ****_I_**** wanna go back. So, where was I?**

**SEASON FINALE! It is HERE. I bet yer excited, ain't ya? Most a ya probably skipped right past this author rambling to get to the story and frankly, I don't blame you. But yer gonna be a mite bit disappointed 'cause the real excitement doesn't start 'til next chapter. ;) BUT, something huge happens in here~ Hehe.**

**Enjoy!**

***DISCLAIMER* I DO NOT OWN TREMORS OR ITS CHARACTERS AND MAKE NO PROFIT FROM THIS.**

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Perfection Valley, Nevada. A small desert valley with beautiful rolling hills of sparkling sand, slopes of green, and the magnificent graboid, El Blanco, lurking in its depths. To many passing by, it is peaceful and quiet, and they can understand why one would choose to chance living with such a dangerous creature. In the eyes of the residents however…it is quite a different story.

"You're making way too big a deal out of this."

The rotund man puffed out his chest in annoyance, glaring down at the shopkeeper. "In case you've forgotten, I'm in charge of this valley. I get the final say-so in everything that goes on, and that includes your little carnival."

"Oh come on," Rosalita scoffed. "It's not that much. Tyler lets his tours get out and explore the main stops, Larry has a scavenger hunt around the valley, Nancy has a crafts booth, and Burt holds conspiracy debates with other paranoids. Those NEWDO protestors were more of a carnival than that."

"You had no right to set it all up without notifying me!"

"No? We live here! We got a right to make money however we want." Jodi cast a dark look to the two men sitting at the end of her counter, "Which we really need now since _somebody_ lost their last paycheck!"

The only response was a tense snap of the newspaper as Burt buried his nose in an article and Tyler took a bigger bite than necessary from his breakfast, both avoiding any eye contact from the feuding pair. Jodi huffed, shaking her head.

"They've been acting strange ever since they got back from that island," Rosalita muttered.

"What the hell you lookin' at me for?" Twitchell snapped.

"Because you're the one who broke them," Jodi shot back.

"What?!"

"Well she's not wrong," Rosalita cut in. "I mean they "lost" _ten thousand dollars_? Money we were going to use on the town!"

"Which they refuse to say a word about."

"And you should _see_ the way Tyler reacts whenever Larry pops up. He's so jumpy! It's just weird. He hasn't acted like that since the Crawler incident."

Twitchell frowned. "I still don't see what any of it has to do with me. I wasn't even there!"

"No, but you're the one who sent them," Nancy, who had been quietly observing the argument until then, spoke up. "That makes you responsible."

The agent rolled his eyes heavily. "Whatever. The point is, you can't go bringing in all these tourists willy-nilly. What exactly do you plan to do when El Blanco shows up?"

"The boys herded him into this rock quarry they found on the other end of the valley," Jodi replied. "He can't get out."

"And there's isn't even the slightest hinting of any creatures out there either," Nancy added smugly.

Twitchell opened his mouth again but could find nothing else to complain about. The residents were thorough; he had to give them that. He snapped it closed again and fixed them with a piercing glare. "Fine. But if any of you so much as _say_ something out of the ordinary, I will personally pack your bags and ship them to Tijuana. Got it?"

Nancy gave a sharp nod, looking serious. "Normal people. Got it."

"We'll try our hardest," Rosalita assured sweetly.

The man made no comment on the obvious mocking and snatched up several twizzlers before stomping out the door, completely ignoring Jodi's protests. Nancy shook her head as his car pulled away. _'Men.'_

**_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo_**

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen!" Tyler gave the group of tourists his signature charming grin as they gathered around his jeep. "As you all know, the tour's a little different today since we get to actually explore some of the areas on the route. But, even though we don't need to worry about El Blanco, all the rules still apply. You will not get out to take pictures except at the designated areas and you will not wander off while we're stopped. There's still quite a few dangers out there so I need you to stay where I can see you at all times."

"What kind of dangers?"

Tyler nodded towards the attractive lady with an assuring smile. "It's mostly just wild animals and old mine shafts, ma'am, nothin' to worry about. Now, if there aren't any more questions….Alright, let's go."

The group quickly loaded into the back of the jeep, chattering amongst themselves in excitement as Tyler started the engine and headed out. Burt watched him leave from his spot next to the garage. His first session didn't start for another hour but his help wasn't needed anywhere, despite how busy the town was, so he was left to just hang out while he waited. He wished he could at least check on Larry; he didn't like the idea of a scavenger hunt outside of the town, even though it only covered about four square miles and Harlow, Casey, and Roger were helping out.

"Hey, Burt," Nancy walked up, holding a large box of paint he assumed was for her arts and crafts booth. "Not planning on 'conditioning' El Blanco again, are we?"

Burt gave her a hooded look, unamused. "And what are you planning? You don't need that much paint for your booth, do you?"

"Actually, I'm having them paint extra pieces. Some of them want to do more than one, even if they can't take it with them, so I figured I could have them help me finish the works I'll be selling in the store." The survivalist raised an eyebrow in silence. "What? I'm a little behind, okay? It's not like it's slave labour…"

Burt just chuckled as she hurried off and straightened up to head for the store. He could do with some coffee.

**_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo_**

"This is not as fun as I thought it would be," Larry complained. He slumped further in his chair, tempted to slide off of it like a child and hide under the table. At least down there he could pretend to be a spy or something.

_**"Hey Larry, got another one comin' your way,"**_ Casey's voice floated through the radio cheerfully. At least _she_ was having fun. He was stuck sitting at the "entry point" where those playing in the scavenger hunt would buy their ticket and list, and turn in the found objects afterwards.

They were just so _slow._ And they didn't seem interested in talking much either; at least not about any interesting topics. The past four hours were the most boring hours of his life.

Suddenly remembering he had yet to acknowledge the scientist, Larry grabbed his walkie, a bit over-zealous in his reaching as he nearly fell off the chair. "Thanks, Case."

"_**How many are left?"**_

"Seven."

Roger joined the conversation. _**"I think they're almost done."**_

"_**Well, Larry, sounds like you won't be dying of boredom for much longer," **_Casey joked lightly.

"If we ever do this again, _you_ can sit at the table."

"_**Duly noted."**_

The boring atmosphere at the table of boredom went back to being boring for several more minutes before the small family arrived. Larry perked up when he saw the young, single mother of two herding her kids towards the table. She'd been one of the more enjoyably customers, understanding most of Larry's quips and references and even replied back with some of her own. She was awesome.

"Hello, again, Mr. Norvel."

Larry couldn't help return the warm smile. "Hey, Willow. How was the hunt?"

"It was awesome!" the younger boy yelled. "We saw a graboid!"

Willow rushed to correct him. "Oh, no, sorry. It was just a prairie dog, but you know how little boys are with their imaginations. They kept calling it a mighty graboid with the power to shrink and change shape," she shook her head fondly at them.

Larry laughed, the worry that had temporarily shadowed his face gone. "That's okay. So, did you find everything on the list?"

"I think so," she set a sack on the table, pulling them out one by one. "Assblaster lighter, Perfection Valley ball cap, wrist seismo, Desert Icicle wind chime, toy shotgun, shrieker piñata, a set of nuzzling shrieker salt and pepper shakers – these are so cute, by the way. Where did you get them?"

"Nancy made them. She's an amazing potter. She also made the Hidden Head Mug."

"Oh, yes," Willow dug out the odd coffee cup and held it up. "I must confess, this was not at all what I was expecting when I read that."

"She screamed and dropped it," the older boy grinned.

"I did not scream, I just- let out a high, startled gasp."

Larry laughed. "Don't worry, you're not the only one to get freaked out. Nancy first tested it out on Tyler on his morning coffee. I swear I kept catching him glancing at the bottom of every cup he drank from that next week."

The mother giggled and went back to the list. "Let's see….three graboid tongues, one Burt Gummer's Survival School button….and an assblaster shirt. I think that's it. Right?"

"Looks like," Larry beamed and handed her a small ticket. "This is good for one free something."

"A free something?"

"Yup. You can either use it to get a free autographed picture with Burt and/or Tyler, our local monster hunters, take a free tour, or get a free lunch. Your choice. And it's good for your whole family."

"Oh, that's cool."

"I wanna free tour!" the younger boy shouted out again.

Willow shook her head at him. "We already went on the tour, Joey. Come on. We'll go get our picture taken with the monster hunters. Won't you like that? I can make a copy so you'll each have one, okay?"

"YAY!" both boys ran ahead of her, screaming.

She chuckled. "I'll see you later."

Larry waved back at her as she left and sighed. Back to boredom.

**_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo_**

"Burt, would you shut up?" Tyler exclaimed in annoyance. The paranoid maniac had been grumbling about spies and conspiracies for the last hour as they drove around looking for the last few Scavenger Hunt stragglers. He couldn't really blame him, since Burt wasn't one to enjoy large crowds and there had been more than enough people in town today to make him moody, but there was only so much Tyler could take and he was starting to go crazy. "They're tourists, tourists get lost. They're not here to kill us."

Burt took his eyes off the road to glare at his passenger but was cut off by Harlow before he could respond. _**"I got another one, guys."**_

Tyler grabbed his walkie and the list of the lost. "Who?"

"_**The Denim family."**_

"_**It's De-**_**naam**_**,"**_ a snarky voice sounded in the background.

"Great. That leaves one more," Tyler marked the name off the list. "Which way you headed?"

_**"To the end of the valley. One of the others mentioned seeing an older man over there."**_

"Really? That's nowhere near the designated area."

"Told you," Burt mumbled under his breath. Tyler shot him an unamused, warning frown.

"_**That's what they said. I'll meet you there. I don't have room for another passenger."**_

"Okay. Tyler out."

They reached their destination just after Harlow and climbed out. "Is that him?" Tyler asked, gesturing to an elderly man a ways up a hill, crouched next to a desert plant.

"Looks like," Burt replied. "Hey!"

The man didn't acknowledge them and the survivalist angrily readjusted his hat and started towards him. Tyler quickly followed to make sure he didn't say anything that would get them in trouble, rolling his eyes at Harlow as he did.

"Hey!" Burt grabbed the man under his arm and hauled him to his feet. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, apologizes," the man stuttered, looking slightly frightened.

"Burt, what did I say about smiling every once in a while?" Tyler asked pointedly.

The man started when he saw Tyler. "I'm sorry. I got a little lost and was resting."

"That's fine," Tyler cut in before Burt could. "You're not the only one. If you'll come with us, we can give you a lift back to town."

"Oh, no, that's not necessary. I _was_ lost, but I've since figured myself out. My car is just over there," he pointed to a small knoll where a faint shimmer of metal could be seen. "I was just resting here for a moment, and admiring the view. It's quite nice."

Tyler smiled. "It is. But I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to get back to your car now. We can't have tourists out here after dark."

"Of course."

The man followed them back down the hill, losing his footing at the bottom and stumbling. A bag of white powder fell from his jacket, sending a cloud of dust into their faces. Harlow picked up the bag and handed it back, coughing. "What is that?"

"Baby powder," the elderly man replied off-handedly. "I get heat rashes."

"Right," Burt grumbled. "There's your car, get going."

They waited until the man had reached his vehicle before getting in their own. "I'll follow him to town to make sure he gets there," Harlow said.

Burt nodded in agreement and pulled away to head for the bunker. Tyler slumped in his seat with a heavy sigh. "Finally, today is _over_."

"It's gonna be late by the time we get to the bunker, thanks to that idiot," Burt said. "What the hell was he even doing out there, it was nowhere near the Scavenger Hunt! He shouldn't have even been parked there."

"You're original point, Burt?" Tyler reprimanded wearily, knowing the man hadn't started that sentence with the intention of ranting.

"Like I said, it'll be dark. Do you want to crash on the couch tonight?"

"I've driven in the dark before, Burt."

"Tyler, _I'm_ exhausted, and you've been running around even more than I have today. By the time we get to the bunker you'll be too tired to drive anywhere safely. Especially in the dark."

"True," Tyler yawned. "Sure. But don't give me that old army blanket again. It smells like mothballs."

* * *

**Soooooo, what'dya thiiiiink? I like the little moment at the end, Burt bein' all bro-like and stuffs. bloop.**

**Anywho, I'll try to have the next chapter up soon. I've been planning this story for over a year, I've got all the details, lol.**

**Oh yeah, and how does my writing sound now compared to my previous two episodes? Better? Same? Lemme know.**


	2. Chapter 2

**YOSH! Second chapter typed, edited (by myself, I'm still waiting for Rumpy to read over it but I'm too impatient to wait for her to get to it after school tomorrow, so I'll just add any changes later), and finished in _less than two weeks!_ Ain't that AWESOME?! I'm really going to try and get myself to post a new chapter every week, I need to start organizing and focusing my work. So hopefully, by the end of next week, I'll have chapter three done and up.**

**IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! MAKE SURE TO READ THE BOTTOM AUTHOR NOTE BEFORE YOU LEAVE, PLEASE.**

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Tyler awoke to a faint, nagging headache throbbing in his brain. He groaned and sat up, feeling disoriented when he realized he wasn't in his own bed. It took him a minute to figure out he was at Burts'. He glanced at the clock, guessing it must be incredibly early since he didn't hear the other man up and about yet. Instead, the two hands clearly announced the time as 10:37 and Tyler nearly fell off the couch in shock. Burt _never_ slept in so late.

'_Maybe he already left…'_ Tyler stood up and wandered towards the bedroom. It wasn't like Burt had a problem with letting the others stay in his house unsupervised, but it wasn't often he could go about getting ready without waking Tyler. They'd been on enough assignments together that the younger man had grown accustomed to his noises in the morning, and knew that he might as well get up too because Burt would be nudging him up soon anyway. Burt never allowed him to sleep in on assignments.

However, Tyler had barely entered the small hallway when he heard the soft snores coming from Burts' bedroom and his speculation was thrown out the window. Still there, still sleeping.

Shaking his head, Tyler turned back to the living room area. Today was starting out weird and he wasn't even fully awake yet. He headed towards the safe room. Maybe things would sound less confusing after a hot shower.

Burt was up by the time Tyler got out, making a pot of coffee with the new coffee maker Nancy had given him so he would stop annoying Jodi in the mornings.

"Enjoy your sleep?" Tyler asked with a teasing smirk. Burt just rolled his eyes and handed him a mug.

"I am capable of sleeping like a 'normal person' every once in a while."

"If you say so." Tyler flopped down on the couch and sipped his coffee, watching Burt pop a few pills. "You too, huh?"

Burt grunted in agreement as he sat down at his computer to do his morning check on El Blanco. Everything looked normal at first glance and he decided to forgo the details. He wasn't in the mood for it and wanted to get a start on the day. Despite what he'd said to Tyler, he was not used to waking up past 0600 and it made him feel off.

After several moments of companionable silence, Tyler spoke. "We're not supposed to get any tourists today, right?"

"Don't think so. Today's mostly clean up."

"Good," Tyler drained the rest of his coffee and stood up, stretching. "I need to do a tune-up on my jeep. It was startin' to run funny yesterday."

Burt gave a half-hearted wave to the tour guide as he left before getting up himself to put the mugs away. He'd barely gotten into the small kitchenette though before he heard Tylers' boots on the stairs again and his fist rapped against the door. Vaguely wondering if the man had forgotten something, he answered, frowning at the confused and slightly annoyed look on his friends' face.

"What is it?"

"Our cars are gone."

"What?!" Burt pushed past him and raced up the stairs only to be greeted by the sight –or lack thereof- of both his truck and the tour jeep. Both of which had been parked within the enclosed fence the night before. "How the hell-?"

"Dunno," Tyler joined him on the top step, running his fingers through his hair in puzzlement. "There's no tracks either to suggest they were stolen."

He was right. Burt scoured the ground but the only tracks were from his truck. There were no strange footprints or any evidence that Tyler's jeep had even been there let alone taken away.

Burt frowned deeply, his face hardening into a dangerous look that Tyler knew well. It was the same look Burt had sported when someone slashed his truck tires in Toluca. Only it was worse now; his beloved power wagon was _gone_ and not just damaged.

"Stay calm, Burt," Tyler warned, laying a hand on his shoulder. "There's no need to go off half-cocked, and I doubt it would help us any either."

The survivalist shot him a disgusted glare but refrained from running off to find the beatnik who'd stolen his truck. Barely.

Tyler started towards the fence. "Let's head to town. Maybe the girls or Larry know something."

Much to their surprise, Burts' truck was sitting in its usual spot outside Changs', surrounded by several cars that obviously belonged to tourists. Tylers' jeep, though, was still nowhere to be seen.

Burt paused to look over his vehicle while Tyler went on inside. Jodi was at the counter talking to Rosalita as the visitors wandered around the store. The place felt faintly off as soon as the tour guide stepped inside and he paused in the doorway, observing the room carefully. Nothing jumped out at him though, so he shrugged it off and joined the girls at the counter.

"Morning, ladies."

"…spent half the night sitting in that barn with him," Rosalita was saying, neither of them pausing in their conversation the slightest, nor even glancing at him. "Harlow thinks he might just have colic, but I don't know."

"That sucks," Jodi sympathized. "I hope he gets better soon."

The rancher nodded. "I can't afford to lose another calf. I've lost two already this year."

Tyler frowned, confused. "What are you talking about? You've only lost one calf this year."

"Excuse me?" a tourist called out from the opposite counter where he was ready to pay for his things.

"Be right there!" Jodi called, hurrying away.

Rosalita turned to her coffee, sipping it quietly and still showing no sign of having heard Tyler at all. He frowned, snapping his fingers in front of her face.

"Hello? Have I pissed you off again or something? Hey!"

Still nothing. Not even the slight flinching or hidden smirk of trying to ignore someone no matter how much they bugged them.

"Tyler, what are you doing?" Burt asked from behind him.

"She won't answer me!" Tyler said indignantly. "It's like they can't even hear me or something."

Burts' brow furrowed and he leaned forward, laying a hand on the womans' shoulder. "Rosalita?"

Rosalita looked behind her but didn't meet Burts' eyes. Instead, she frowned, looking around in puzzlement and then down at her shoulder. Burt removed his hand as she shrugged uncomfortably before going back to her coffee. He exchanged a puzzled and slightly worried look with his partner.

"What the _hell_ is going on?"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**_

Harlow arrived about an hour later and Tyler could have cried in relief when the ranch hand actually made direct eye contact with him and started in his direction. Ever since their odd run in with Rosalita, Burt and Tyler had been trying to get the attention of the others in the store, only to get the same result every single time. It was starting to freak Tyler out a little, and he knew Burt felt the same way.

"Tyler," Harlow nodded as he came up to him. His easy-going demeanor evaporated though when he took in the slightly stressed look on his friends' face. "What's wrong?"

"Have you tried talking to anybody today?" Tyler asked.

"You mean besides you?"

"Yeah."

"Then no. Why?"

Tyler just nodded towards the store keeper, who was currently busy getting ready for the lunch hour. Harlow cast him a confused glance but headed over to talk to her. "Hey, Jodi."

The Asien woman made no notice of him so he raised his voice a little. "Jodi?"

Again, she made no response and Harlow turned back to Tyler again. The tour guide sighed, chewing on the inside of his lower lip, something he only ever did when he was nervous. "They're all like that. They can't hear us, see us…they can seem to feel us though, if we touch them. But that's it. It's like we're-"

"Don't even go there," Burt snapped, coming to sit next to him. Tyler didn't bother arguing.

"Wait…" Harlow looked around the store. "Wh-….How is that even possible?"

"I don't know, and frankly, I don't care," Burt replied. "I just want to know what the hell happened so we can fix it."

"Well, it seems to have only affected us," Tyler said. "Or, not affected. Whichever."

"This place feels different," Harlow murmured.

Tyler nodded. "I noticed that earlier. Can't figure out why though."

Burt sighed heavily, his lips pursed grimly. He didn't like this. Something was wrong in his valley, again, and he had absolutely no idea what it was or what was causing it. And he hated it when he didn't know his enemy.

"Do either of you remember touching _anything_ weird yesterday?" he asked. Harlow shook his head. "Tyler? ….Tyler?"

Tyler didn't respond, his eyes glued to the window as a figure made its way across the porch to the door. Burt followed his gaze with a glance only to do a sudden double-take as the figure entered the store.

"Hey, Burt!" Jodi greeted him cheerfully as Burt Gummer, dressed in his usual camouflaged BDUs and armed to the teeth, walked towards the counter. "I was wondering where you went off to, you left without your truck."

"I was checking something on the hill," he answered briefly, leaning against the counter. "Thought I saw something."

Jodi sighed, shaking her head affectionately. "Honestly, Burt. You should really relax every once in a while, all this paranoia is going to drive you mad one of these days," she teased.

The survivalist just grunted.

The three currently invisible men stared at the scene in front of them with wide, unblinking eyes. Harlow and Tyler were the first to look away, turning from the second Burt Gummer to stare at the first. Burt One glared back at them.

"Well, don't look at me!"

"It's kinda hard not to," Tyler replied, glancing back at Burt Two.

Burt One stood abruptly. "Okay, that is _it_. I want to know what the hell is going on, and I want to know _now_."

"Um…I…might have an idea," Harlow said slowly.

"What?" Tyler asked.

Harlow pointed towards the small calendar on the wall next to Jodi's stove, something neither Burt nor Tyler had thought to look at. Tylers' eyes widened to the size of saucers and Burts' jaw dropped in disbelief.

"June 27, _2002?!_"

* * *

**Just to make sure you guys know, the show was started in 2003, and by this time they're in 2004, abouts. So yeah, *spooky eyes*.**

**Anywho, to my announcement:**

**For the longest time I have had a story idea for Psych (it's a good TV show, if you've never heard of it, you should look it up. It's on couchturner -dot- com and watchseries -dot- lt (that's an "L", not an "I")). I've been hesitant to write it because I'm not sure how well I could capture the essence of the show and its characters (I always seem to have a hard time writing in on-going shows for some reason), but I really want to see it written. So I'm thinking of starting it once I finish the season finale. I just wanted to know if you guys would be interested at all.**

**There's a poll on my profile about it, leave your answers there. I'm really interested in what you guys would think (and to see how many of you are fellow Psychos).**

**Thanks.**

**-Tekeo**


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